Silverstone urges cosmetic testing ban on animals

London, Sep 1 (IANS) Actress Alecia Silverstone has written an open letter to the European Commission urging them to uphold a proposed ban against cosmetic testing on animals.

The ban was passed in 2003 and is set to be effective from 2013, but officials at the Commission’s Joint Research Centre recently warned that alternative testing methods might not be in place by that time.

“This ban was put in place to advance and modernize cosmetic testing and keeping it in place is crucial. We need modern cosmetics and chemical test methods that can assess how products will affect the human body. Testing these products on animals is inherently cruel - and it’s not a good predictor of how it will affect humans,” dailystar.co.uk quoted Silverstone as saying.

“The impending ban has motivated cosmetics companies in the EU, the US, and around the globe to invest in high-tech alternatives to animal tests. Significant progress has already been made… but if you allow this deadline to slip away, cosmetics companies will be less motivated to invest in new test methods,” she added.